Transmission mechanism.



B. A. THIEM.

TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

APPLICATION TILED JULY 25 1906. RENEWED 00121, 1910.

Patented May 9, 1911.

UNITED STATES T OFFICE.

EDWARD A. THIEM,

OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO EDMUND G. WALTON,OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed July 25, 1906, SerialNo. 327,724. Renewed October 21, 1910.

Patented May 9, 1911..

Serial No. 588,368.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. THIEM, of Minneapolis, Hennepin county,Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTransmission Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for trans mittlng power and regulatingspeed; and the object of my invention is to provide a device wherebythe'transmission of power will be positive and any desired degree ofspeed of a driving shaft can be obtained for a driven shaft without theuse of friction clutches or similar devices.

A further object is to provide a speed regulator by means of which thepower of the driving shaft can be transmitted without shock or jerk tothe driven shaft and its connections, thereby adapting the deviceparticularly for use on automobiles.

My invention consists generally in a gear connected with a driven shaftand a series of idle planetary gears arranged to revolve around saidfirst named gear, a series-of fluid controlled pumps connected with saididle gears, and means within control of the operator for releasin orconfining the fluid to release or look said pumps and idle gears.

Further, the invention consists in various constructions andcombinations, all as hereinafter described and particularly pointed outin the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification; Figurel is a sectional View of a speed regulator embodying my invention, onthe section line y-y of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the linea:m of Fig. l. v

In the drawing, 2 represents a drivin shaft and 3 a fly wheel securedthereon and provided with an interior chamber 4 accessible on one sideof the fly wheel by means of a removable plate 5.

6 is a driven shaft having its end telescoped with the end of the shaft2 with a bearing sleeve 7 between them. On the end of the shaft 6 a sungear 8 is keyed. A housing 9 incloses the said gear and is secured tothe fly wheel referably by the same means which holds the plate 5thereon. Around the gear 8, and havlng their bearings in hubs 10 on theplate 5, are a series of, preferably three crank shafts 11 and upon.these shafts planetary pinions 12 are keyed,

having their teeth in engagement with the teeth of the gear 8.

Within the chamber 4 2, is a hub 13 and a series of, preferably threecylinders 14 radiating therefrom, the inner ends of said cylinders beingopen and communicating through passages 14 with a chamber 15 extendinglengthwise of the driving shaft. At the outer ends of the cylinders,valves 16 are provided, fitting seats 17 and having stems 18 which areadapted to slide in socket-s 19. These valves lead to chambers 20 whichcommunicate on one side with pump cylinders 21 and on the other throughvalves 22 with the chamber 4. The valves 22 are normally held in theirclosed position by springs 23 while the valves 16 are held bycentrifugal force against their seats and are limited in their inwardmovement by pins 24. Plungers 25 are provided in the cylinders 21,having crank connections 26 with the shafts l1. Areciprocation of theplungers 25 will have the effect of alternately opening the valves 22and 16 and admitting the fluid to the chambers 20 and to the cylin dersleading to the chamber 15, and through holes 27 in the walls of saidchamber back into the fly wheel chamber 4, thus establishing acirculation of the fluid through the pumps and the shaft into the flywheel chamber.

Within the chamber 15 a sliding plug valve 28 is provided, having achamber 29 in one end open to the chamber 15,'and an annular groove 30communicating with the chamber 29 through port holes 31. The plug 28 hasa reciprocating movement in the chamber 15 and is actuated by means of acollar 32 slidably mounted on the driven shaft and having a pinconnection 33 with the plug 28 through a slot 34. By slidin the collarbackand forth on the driven sha t the plug valve will be reciprocatedand moved across the passages 14 leading from the cylinders 14 to thechamber 15 and increase or decrease the size of said openings toregulate the flow of the fluid therethrough, and thereby controlthecirculation of fluid through the pumps. The collar 32 is operated bymeans of a suitable lever mechanism (not shown).

To use the apparatus, the chamber 4 is supplied with a quantity ofinelastic fluid such as oil and. the driving shaft and fly wheel beingin motion, the oil will be thrown out on the driving shaft oil will flowthrough the chambers an'dcylinders and circulate freely between the flywheel and driving. shaft chambers and the pinions 12 will be allowed torevolve idly without transmitting their movement to the ear 8 betweenthem. As soon, however, as it is desired to set the driven shaft in motion, the operator will move the plug 28 and partially "close thepassages 14: and cut off the free circulation of the oil therethrou hand cause the temporary checking and loc ing of, the ing the pinions 12from turning and causing Y the power of the driving shaft to betransmitted through the said pinions to the gear 8 and from thence tothe driven shaft.

I prefer to provide three of the pinions and'the pumps in connectiontherewith, and at least two of the gears and their pumps will be lockedsimultaneously, their stroke being so arranged that the plungers will beon the compression part of the stroke at the same time, and their gearswill be locked to insure the transmission of power from the driving tothe driven shaft. In case of any leakage of the oil past the end of .theplug valve 28, it will flow into the annular groove 30 and from thenceinto the chamber 29 and back to the fly wheel chamber. The circulationof the oil can thus be perfectly controlled and the speed of the drivenshaft easily regulated without any jar or shock usually incident to thestarting of a driven shaft by means of an ordinary friction clutch.

With this device the shaft can be smoothly and easily set in motion andits speed increased or decreased by merely varying the size of theopening through which the oil is discharged from the pump cylinders. Thedevice is therefore particularly adapted for use on automobiles where itis desirable to provide means for changing the speed without jerk to themachinery or jar to the occupants of the car. If the plug is moved toentirely close the outlets from the oil- I cylinders, then the pumpswill be positively locked and the full speed and power of the drivingshaft will be transmitted to the driven shaft. If, however, slower speedis desired, then the plug will be adjusted to allow the escape ofaportion of the oilinto the chamber 15 and from thence to the fly wheelchamber, whereupon the pinions 12 will be allowed a slight movement orslippage and a portion of the power from the driving shaft will be lost.the shafts the plug will be thrown to the position indicated in Fig. 1,exposing the full size of the opening from the oil cylinare open andunobstructed, the

pump. plungers thereby prevent- To disconnect ders and allowing the freecirculation ofthe oil through the chamber. I

I claim as my invention: I, e 1. The combination, with a rotary drivingmachine element having a chamber, of a cylinders and the fly wheeldrivenelement, a sun gear secured to said driven element, a fly wheelhaving a chamber secured to said driving element, a series of planetarygears mounted in said fly wheel and engaging said :sun. gear, a seriesof pumps provided in-said fly wheel chamber and having .their pistonsoperatively con nected with said' planetary. gears, said-fly wheelchamber containing a supply of inelastic fluid and connected with saiddriving 1 element chamber, and means for controlling the circulation ofsaid inelastic fluid through said pumps and thereby locking said planetgears or releasing the same, substantially as I described.

2. The combination, with a rotary .driving machine element having achamber, of a driven element, a sun gear secured to said driven element,a 'fly wheel having a chamber secured to said drivingelement, aseries ofplanetary gears mounted in said flywheel and engaging said sun gear, aseries of pumps-provided in said fly wheel chamber and having theirpistons operatively connected with saidv planetary gears, said.

chamber containing a supply of inelastic fluid and connected withsaiddriving element chamber, and a valve locatedin' said drivingelement-chamber arrangedto control the circulation of said inelasticfluid-through said pumps and thereby lock: said gears or release thesame, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with adriving shaft having a chamber and a fly wheelalso having a chamber containing a supply of inelastic fluid, of adriven shaft, a gear-secured on said driven shaft, a ,serles of p1n1onshaving bearings in said fly wheel and engaging the teeth of said gear, aseries of pumps provided in said fly wheel chamber, and having theirpistons operatively connected with said pinions, valves leading to saidchamber and passages communicating with said shaft chamber and said,driving shaft chamber having ports leading to said fly wheel chamber anda valve provided insaid driving shaft chamber, and arranged to cut ofi'the flow of fluid thereto from said pump cylinders and thereby lock saidpump pistons.

4. The combination, with 'a driving shaft having a chamber and a flywheel also having a chamber communicating with the chamber in said'driving shaft and containing a supply of inelastic fluid, of a drivenshaft, a gear secured thereon. a series of pinions inclosing said gearand meshing therewith,

a series of cylinders arranged in said fly f wheel chamber, and havingports leading to said fly wheel and driving shaft chambers,

valves provided in said cylinders, and normally closing the same againstthe entrance of said inelastic fluid from said fly wheel chamber, pumpcylinders having their pistons arranged to open said valves and on thesuction stroke admitfluid to said cylinders and allow said valves toclose on the com pression stroke and cut ofl the flow therethrough, saidpump cylinders having their pistons connected with said idle pinions,and a valve slidably arranged in said driving shaft chamber to regulatethe circulation of [said inelastic fluid therethrough, whereby themovement of said pump pistons will be temporarily checked and said idlepinions 5 locked in engagement with said ear to drive the same,substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 12th day of July1906.

EDWARD A. THIEM. \Vitnesses RICHARD PAUL, J. B. ERA.

